FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION - PAGE 2

After my column of Dec. 3, I have a feeling that the Social Security Administration is hoping that one of my New Year's resolutions is: Be nicer to the Social Security Administration. In that column, I responded to A.W. of Delray Beach, who had written that her mother-in-law passed away on Oct. 31, just 13 hours before the end of the month, and after informing the Social Security Administration, they immediately withdrew the $1,425 of Social Security benefits that had been direct-deposited on Nov. 3 for the month of October.

The Social Security Administration wants to tell you how much money to expect to receive when you retire. Look for the amount in the mail. Between now and September, the Social Security Administration will mail out "Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statements" to every eligible person age 60 and older who is not currently receiving Social Security benefits. The statement will show how much a worker and his employers paid into Social Security through payroll taxes and what the worker could expect to receive in benefits at retirement.

A Reagan administration effort to substantially reduce the number of people on Social Security disability rolls ended up victimizing tens of thousands of Americans. While many people who didn`t deserve benefits were stripped from the rolls, others who were entitled to benefits also found their payments eliminated. The ham-handed purging of the Social Security disability rolls stands as one of the sorrier legacies of an administration that recognized the importance of limiting government spending, but too often ignored the legitimate needs of United States citizens.

Palm Beach County Local members of the Florida Silver-Haired Legislature, a seniors group that proposes bills for state legislators to consider, are looking for South Florida retirees who worked for the Social Security Administration in the 1930s. They will be honored May 21 at a Boynton Beach rally protesting proposals to privatize Social Security. Those interested should call Jay Slavin at 561-272-0490.

WILTON MANORS -- The People With AIDS Coalition of Broward County is sponsoring a discussion at 7 tonight about HIV and Social Security. Frank Futchi, a field administrator for the Social Security Administration, will discuss applying and qualifying for Supplemental Security Income and Social Security disability, said Richard Greenberg, the coalition`s president. The program begins at 2294 Wilton Drive. For information, call 565-9119.

South Florida Local members of the Florida Silver-Haired Legislature, a senior group that proposes bills for state legislators to consider, are looking for South Florida retirees who worked for the Social Security Administration in the 1930s. They will be honored May 21 at a Boynton Beach rally protesting proposals to privatize Social Security. Those interested should call Jay Slavin at 561-272-0490.

From March 1997 to April 1998, the Social Security Administration suspended Supplemental Security Income payments to 44,376 prisoners who are ineligible to receive them. For that same period, 4,059 facilities received incentive payments for providing information that resulted in the suspension of SSI to prisoners. Federal law prohibits the payment of SSI to recipients who are confined to jails, prisons and certain public institutions for more than 30 days. For confinements beginning March 1997 and later, the law also provides for incentive payments to penal institutions for timely reporting of inmate data to the Social Security Administration that leads to the suspension of SSI payments.

Some Social Security recipients who have been underpaid because of computer problems should get their money within about six months. The Social Security Administration earlier this month said it had underpaid nearly a half-million people an average of $1,000 between 1979 and 1991. The computer glitch, discovered during a routine check, affects two categories of retirees: -- Those who take early retirement benefits - before 65 years old - and then go back to work or miss payments for other reasons.

President Bush on Thursday named Jo Anne B. Barnhart, a former Senate aide and one-time assistant secretary of Health and Human Services, to head the Social Security Administration for a six-year term. Since 1997, Barnhart has served on the six-member Social Security Advisory Board and she was an assistant commissioner in the 1980s. Barnhart, 50, a Tennessee native, also has been political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Last year she served as a campaign consultant for Sen. William Roth, the Delaware Republican who lost his bid for a sixth term to then-Gov.

When Al Cunningham, a disabled Vietnam veteran, needed help from the Social Security Administration, he drove the 2.27 miles to the agency's office. His five-minute trip just got a lot longer. The agency closed its Hallandale Beach office Jan. 1 and combined it with a larger one 11 miles away at 500 N. Hiatus Road in Pembroke Pines. The move will save the Social Security Administration $4.61 million a year, regional commissioner Paul Barnes said. But the decision could impose a hardship on some of the 16,806 beneficiaries in Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Pembroke Park, West Park and Dania Beach, and that angers Cunningham.